1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for vertically forming concrete columns for use in erecting concrete fences, walls and related structure.
2. Related Art
Vertically oriented concrete walls have been used for many years in applications including highway, residential and commercial enclosures. Concrete panels and columns are often poured and cured in a central manufacturing area and shipped fully formed and cured to a job site, where the panels and columns can be assembled into a fence or similar structure. It is often desirable to apply a textured, decorative finish to the concrete panels and columns to enhance the appearance of the fence. Decorative finishes such as pseudo-brick finishes, pseudo-rock wall finishes, etc., give the concrete panels and columns a more aesthetically pleasing appearance, and in some cases, such as in sound wall applications, can increase the effectiveness of the concrete wall or fence.
Due to the difficulties inherent in horizontally forming concrete columns from uncured concrete, conventional column casting processes generally utilize a vertical mold system into which uncured concrete is poured to form concrete columns which will later be used to erect a concrete wall or fence. Such vertical mold systems generally include a plurality of panels that are assembled into a substantially rectangular form to receive the uncured concrete. Panels used in such a manner often include a decorative pattern applied thereto, which forms a corresponding or inverse decorative pattern in the concrete column poured within the panels. Due to the significant weight of the uncured concrete disposed within the column mold system, and the fact that uncured concrete tends to flow through any cracks or holes in a form system, assembling a vertical column mold system that is capable of forming structurally sound, aesthetically pleasing columns has proved difficult.
For example, attempts have been made to secure individual form panels (or sheets of material) into a rectangular form structure by securing, by either internal or external means, the panels at 90° to one another to form 90° corners of the mold. However, such attempts have often resulted in uncured concrete seeping or flowing at least partially between the areas where the panels meet. The concrete that seeps or flows through the cracks must, after curing, be ground, chipped or otherwise removed from the cured concrete column. To address this problem, attempts have been made to create a form with two or more panels rigidly coupled together into a 90° angle to prevent uncured concrete from seeping or flowing out of the corner structure of the mold.
While such attempts have at least partially addressed the problem of seepage of uncured concrete from forms during the casting process, this solution has resulted in further problems. For example, after the concrete has cured, the “corner” mold structure must be pulled from the column without damaging either the cured concrete or the corner mold structure. That is, once the concrete has cured, the panels coupled into a 90° angle must be forcibly spread apart or expanded to an angle greater than 90° before the panels can be removed. This problem is exacerbated when attempts have been made to couple two “corner” panels into one U-shape mold form. In this scenario, each of the two arms of the U-shaped mold must be peeled away from the cured concrete, which results in great stress being applied to the components of the U-shaped mold.
These problems are made worse when a decorative pattern is formed on the concrete column that was formed, as the concrete generally cures within the indentations of the decorative pattern, and the corner panel structure must be “spread” to an even greater degree to remove the corner panel structure from the cured column. While it may be possible to spread corner panel structures one or two times to reuse the corner panels, repeated cycling of the corner panel structure can result in the panel structure becoming unusable after time. As the cost to prepare typically polymer-lined forms for this purpose can be relatively expensive, frequently replacing form panels due to premature failure can significantly increase the costs associated with forming the concrete columns.